Season 2: City of Petra
Episode 2.1 Prince Maximillian’s retainers, Rampart, Atelier, Vision and Bishop wake up and discover the Prince is missing. There’s a ransom note insinuating the Prince was kidnapped. They deduce the Prince was taken quickly and had to scale a 30-foot wall to climb the balcony to abduct him. They split up fto ind any trails or clues the kidnapper may leave behind. At the Academy of Sphinxes, Unhinged visits her old Politics Professor, Strategist, looking like the Princess Royal also known as the Heiress. Vision and Bishop arrive looking for clues to Maximillian’s whereabouts, to which Strategist replied that he did not even know he was in the city. This mysterious event prompts Unhinged state a very bold claim: The former Queen of Slate was murdered by the current ruler, King Gideon. Unhinged reveals that her appearance as the Princess Royal is an illusion. But Strategist thinks this can be used to advantage; that the fake Heiress can be used to investigate if King Gideon was responsible for Prince Maximillian’s disappearance. The key was comparing the handwriting of the ransom note to the King’s actual writing. At the Scabby Rooster Tavern, Cannon meets with the new King’s Advisor, Gunther, when Rampart and Atelier stop by to try to gain information about Maximillian’s whereabouts. Cannon gets everyone drunk, except Atelier who remains vigilant, in order to gain information from everyone. At City Hall, the Minister of Petra and Trade discuss the change of power from Queen Catervina to King Gideon and that Prince Maximillian is in town with his retinue. The Grand Minister mentions that soon, the leaders from the regions of Basalt and Gan will have a summit meeting and any information will give him the upper hand in that meeting. He proposes a bold action, asking Trade to use one of his 100 ships to masquerade a ship of pirates to abduct Paranoia and find out what really happened in the Castle of Slate when power changed hands. They decide to also put their efforts into finding Maximillian as his current whereabouts are unknown. Unhinged heads to the Scabby Rooster for a drink when she encounters a very plastered Gunther who thinks she is actually the Heiress. But when Unhinged and Cannon are alone, he reveals that he is trying to overthrow Slate, which works well with Unhinged’s plans. Cannon awkwardly seduces the Gunther enough to convince him to let them board the private Royal airship. While Vision visits the Air Dock to get more answers from the ship, they run into Gunther, Unhinged, and Cannon and Gunther brings them all aboard. While Gunther passes out from being hungover from the drinking, Unhinged takes Gideon’s private journal nearly undetected while Cannon messes with the fuse box of the Airship, pulling the cord. Rampart is granted the name “Alister O’Bryan” by the Eyes of the World, which also grants Gunther a pocketwatch which has not been revealed to others yet. He will be referred to Alister from this point on in the story. Alister and Atelier meet with Trade, an old contact of Maximillian’s and refers them to Gellen’s General Store, as they bought a large bottle of jasmine oil from him. As they arrive at Gellen’s Goods, they found out that the oil was acquired by someone from the Empire of Slate. Episode 2.2 King Gideon finds Gunther sleep on the floor of the Airship. Gunther informs there is an imposter Heiress and they realize that they have no idea who she really is and they need to find her. The Minister of Petra greets the Countess of Carnelia, who has come to visit to find out the new situation in Slate. On the same ship was Paranoia, who has arrived after publishing the events of the death of Queen Catervina three weeks ago and about the new king of Slate, Gideon. The Minister of Petra leads Paranoia into a room that he can’t seem to leave while entertaining the Countess but Paranoia finds a medallion in the room, one that offers a boon to someone of high stature. Cannon and Unhinged are in the Market and ask Trade about some receipts in the Royal Airship when Gideon and Gunther arrive and catch them. The King accuses Unhinged of treason when Unhinged fights back and says that the Queenmaker and Gunther put her up to the illusion. She also argues that she wanted to change back but no one was willing to help her. The Eyes of the world (the Audience), grant Unhinged a wand and a lantern. The King informs her how the other scrivener back at the castle was killed, which makes her more concerned about her safety. Trade suggested that Unhinged needs to stay alive because she is useful and arranges for either Gunther or Fetch to be in close proximity to her. The Eyes of the World also grant Paranoia a name – Deckard. And his memory comes back even though his fear does not go away. Back at the Sapphire Windmill Hotel, Alister, Atelier, and Vision get together to share info on clues where Prince Maximillian could be. Vision shares that Unhinged claims that King Gideon murdered the Queen while Alister says that clues on the letter have led to a solider wearing a Slate icon was responsible for the oil on the letter. Atelier’s old friend, Physic, an apothecary from the Order of the Golden Sun greets them and when she gives them stimulants, they suddenly have enough energy to pursue things. While Alister and Atelier head to City Hall, Vision and Physic go to the Academy to look through the Heiress’s things, one of the sources implies that she is scared of the conflicts between Maximillian and his sister, Catervina. Physic finds two notes that seem unimportant except one of them has a black hole drawing with runes that never displayed outside the Order of the Golden Sun. While Unhinged and Gunther are headed to the Academy, Unhinged pleads for Gunther to look into the possibility of Gideon being guilty of killing Catervina, and he says that is treasonous. He forces her to come to the guard and she uses the lantern to disappear, making Gunther run in the direction of City Hall to find King Gideon. At this time, The Eyes of the World grant the Minister of Petra a name – Balthazar, a name that he has kept hidden but only uses because the Eyes of the World have demanded it. Meanwhile, Cannon intercepts King Gideon at City Hall, sending Trade away and opening questioning the King of the overcharges on Trade's goods. The King explains that food shortage drive up prices but Cannon still wishes to investigate Trade's motivates and asks the King to allow others to remain suspicious of him for the time being. Trade offers the King to access his food stores in exchange for a noble title and bestowing of land grant, but the King wants information and location of his missing father, Max. At this time, the Eyes of the World give Gunther a curious item, a red coffee cup that seems out of place in this world with the words "Property of Queenmaker" At City Hall, a series of things happen: Fetch rescues Deckard from the puzzling room in exchange for arranging to hand them the medallion he found. Balthazar and Alister come to the room and find him missing and Alister fills him on the details of the missing Prince. Bathazar asks to put an all points bulletin to the city guard to find Prince Max without alarming the City and to find Deckard to get critical information from him. The Countess decides to back Cannon's move for independence from the Empire and they are seen leaving together. But the Eyes of the World inform Gunther and King Gideon of this move. At this point Gunther softly confronts King Gideon on the accusation Unhinged laid before him. King Gideon tactfully mentions "what would Gunther do when given an impossible situation to save the country that he loves?" For a moment the Blank Slate appears. Gunther grabs the book from the floor, gives it to Gideon and the Blank Slate disappears. And Gunther says he needs time to deal with this new revelation. Episode 2.3 Gunther is still processing that Gideon killed his best friend, Catervina, to save the Empire, knowing that Catervina would have done exactly the same in his position as Queen. On his way to the Scabby Rooster, he encounters two people traveling from Basalt, Mercy who is a Healer and The Last Prophet who is a Diviner. Before Fetch leads them all to the Scabby Rooster, the Storyteller appears before Gunther, chastising him for touching the Blank Slate given to Gideon. But they appear him an opportunity for a wish and covenant of his own and he is asked to think about it before asking. While in the Scabby Rooster, Deckard means that he just arrived from Slate and Mercy asks for any news on Marytr. It's revealed that Mercy is Martyr's sister from Basalt and she is told about the details of Martyr's death at the Castle. The Eyes of the World grant Unhinged her name: Kassandra. Kassandra is in the Academy of Sphinx's warehouse with Physic and Vision. Physic gives him a draught to loosen them from their body and Vision uses the pendant as an anchor to travel in the Astral Plane to find Maximillian. However, they wander too long, their body fails and they monologue to stay alive. The Storyteller takes the story of their pendant, given to them by their professor, the Strategist, to remain in this world. Vision remains in the Astral realm and spies on Gideon meeting with Bishop and Cannon in the docks. Gideon is looking for his father, Max, but Bishop claims that she heard the rumor that he killed Catervina, so now she wants to know what he intends to do with Max. An argument breaks out between Bishop and Cannon on how to deal with Gideon but King Gideon offers the opportunity for Gan to become its own independent State. Grand Minister Balthazar and Trade meet in Balthazar's office in City Hall and Trade informs him that they cannot find Deckard. They create a plan to turn the people against Gideon by trying to get extremists to rally behind him. Atelier who has the ransom note looks for a scrivener in town and that scrivener leads her to a higher level scrivener, who happens to be Kassandra. At this moment, the Storyteller leads The Last Prophet to the group to assist in their divining. Visions returns with what they saw and the Prophet warns of the dangers of doing such divination selfishly. Grand Minister Balthazar tolls a bell for the city to his attention and tells everyone about the missing Prince Maximillian to have a large city-wide search and offers a great reward: The Cheese that enables people to feel full. Back at the Academy, The Last Prophet does divination on the letter with Kassandra offering to be the vessel but the divining has a price where Kassandra heaves from the ritual. But she survives death and finds out that the Knight from the Capital of Slate wrote the letter with the assistance of Vision's anchor which disappears. Trade has a tense meeting with Deckard and Kassandra at gunpoint where Trade asks Deckard to come with him since so many were looking for him. Kassandra negotiates Deckard's freedom in exchange for assisting him in paperwork and documentation for his businesses. Bishop and Cannon are at the docks where Cannon is shocked to find that Bishop is looking for political rulership of Gan. However, she is currently more concerned about finding Prince Maximillian when Mercy appears before them. While their search at the sea docks proves to lead nowhere, Mercy knows that if anything, the air docks will prove to be more promising for clues. Episode 2.4 Episode 2.5 Sir Azrael Cortana, the Lord Commander of Slate’s army, abducts Grand Minister Balthasar to show that he has Prince Maximillian and the Queen of Salt safe in his custody, but wants to speak to King Gideon directly as he does not trust any of Prince Maximillian’s retainers. Prince Max tries to explain that he is safe, but his nightmares about strange things make Sir Azrael doubtful and he wants the actual King to meet with him and verify his claims. Groups attempt separate coordination rescues based on the information they know: Reynard the Fox brings the Retainers to his mansion and suggests creating a bigger more public search about Balthasar’s abduction. Gunther updates Queen Catervina, just resumed from the dead, that her brother, Prince Maximillian is missing. Cannon and Morrigan head to the Scabby Rooster to find more information about what the others know. Sir Azrael lets Balthasar go as it was never his intention to abduct him but to keep him informed and to let others know the Prince and Queen are safe. But Prince Maximillian tells Balthazar of his visions of the undead that have been haunting him and that they are coming from Elmas where the rot is happening. Balthazar rushes back to City Hall with this information and Sir Azrael tells him he will meet Balthazar there. Queen Catervina looks for leads in the Tavern while the group is confused by her presence when she is known to be dead. Cannon takes the information and slips away while everyone is drinking. Reynard the Fox finds out from his contacts where Sir Azrael could be and reports this to the group at the Scabby Rooster. The group heads out to the suspected location. But long before the group arrives, Cannon arrives at the Ruined manor, knowing this place all along, to inform Sir Azrael that a group is coming for him. He urges Cannon to get Prince Maximillian and the Queen of Salt to safety. Grand Minister Balthasar ran into Reynard the Fox and they begin to set up blockades to the south where Elmas is, barring Elmas refugees at the gate to avoid a potential plague in Petra, therefore trying to avoid any pestilence from the undead. However, the group from the Scabby Rooster divides itself before it has left for the manor, one group meeting at City Hall where Balthazar says Sir Azreal will meet them, while Queen Catervina, who still has connections with the Timeless, informs the rest that she, Gunther and Alister will head to the Ruined Manor. Queen Catervina tells Alister privately where Sir Azrael can be found and he darts there immediately. Morrigan gets to Sir Azrael first, letting him know that the call on his head has been lifted and she finds that he has a standing army loyal to him ready to fight for the King. But as they pace around each other, trying to learn each other’s motives, Alister O’Bryan invades and Sir Azrael and fight to the death. They stab each other and fall. As their deaths were Pre-destined by Destiny, the Storyteller cannot save then as they die mutually the floor. Morrigan leaves with Cayce, letting them know a war is about to begin. Episode 2.6